Sequim Science Fair Club
News for Immediate Release
April 5, 2015
Sequim Students Excel at the 58th
Washington State Science and Engineering Fair
From left to right starting in the front row: Ashley Baltrusitis, Alliyah Weber, Julia Jack,
back row: Mentor Ron Tognazzini, Sean Weber, Nicholas Howe, Brenden Jack, Brianna
Jack, Vita Olson, Isabelle MacMurchie and Advisor Debra Beckett
Sequim students shown above, were only part of the 15 students that participated in the 58 th
Washington State Science and Engineering Fair in Bremerton on March 27 and 28, 2015. A total
of 13 first place awards were presented to Sequim students at two award ceremonies that ran
late into the evening of March 28th. They competed with 675 students from first through
twelfth grades that submitted 600 projects for over 200 awards totaling 1.8 million dollars. It
was estimated that the fair was attended by 3,000 students, judges, volunteers, teachers,
family and general public. Two Sequim students were selected as the best in their category,
and a third was selected as a finalist for judging in grades 9 through 12 to represent
Washington State at the International Science and Engineering Fair.
Sequim High School Senior, Ashley Baltrusitis shown in the photograph to the right on the next
page, submitted a project on the removal of dissolved toxic metals from contaminated fresh
and seawater environments using two types of Zeolite. Because of their crystalline structure,
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Sequim Science Fair Club
News for Immediate Release
April 5, 2015
Zeolite minerals capture dissolved metals by a cation-exchange process and have been used to
treat industrial wastewater. Her project was
designed to test zeolite’s ability to remove metals
from contaminated water, and design a system
for toxic metal removal. Baltrusitis used toxic
levels of copper and zinc solutions that ranged
from acute to 1000 times acute levels of toxicity.
A continuous filtration process over time showed
a steady decline of dissolved copper, for instance,
in freshwater from 161 ppb (eight times the
acute level for this metal) to less than 2 ppb (one
tenth the acute level for this metal). Baltrusitis
then demonstrated a design for two different
freshwater applications ranging in size from a
large stream or river through a filtration plant to
a small or creek, and a third seawater application
in a small bay or coastal bight. For this project
Baltrusitis was awarded first place in her category
of Environmental Engineering and was selected
Ashley Baltrusitis in front of her project display board,
as a finalist in the State for selecting which five
titled: Removal of Metals from Aquatic Ecosystems using
students would attend the International Science Zeolites
and Engineering Fair. She also was awarded many other special awards listed in the table
below, including a $20,000 per year renewable scholarship to Ohio Wesleyan University for
Outstanding Achievement in Science.
Sean Weber in front of his project titled: Designing a
Luminosity Meter to Detect Toxins Using Bioluminescence
Eighth grade Sequim Middle School student, Sean
Weber shown in the photograph at the left,
submitted an engineering project on the design of
a relatively inexpensive portable luminosity meter
to detect toxic levels of metals in seawater using
chemical compounds from bioluminescent
organisms. Weber used a remotely controlled
digital single lens reflex camera taking still
pictures at 10 to 15 second intervals of a test
chamber inside a cardboard box measuring 14
inches on a side. The test chamber was split into
two air agitated parts in each image, and a known
toxic solution of copper was added to one side.
The concentration level of the copper in solution
was varied each time to calibrate the loss in
luminosity for each level. Luminosity was
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Sequim Science Fair Club
News for Immediate Release
April 5, 2015
measured in each image using a combination of exposure evaluation from the camera’s light
meter setting and a percentage of image brightness from a grayscale evaluation of each side of
the divided test chamber image. Using a regression analysis, Weber calculated an exponential
equation that best fit the luminosity decay rate of the bioluminescent material for both sides
and determined a linear relationship between the duration of time the toxic substance was
active at each level of concentration. Weber found that his luminosity meter was able to detect
copper solutions above and below the acute EPA Standard for seawater of 4.8 ppb for copper.
Weber was not only awarded first place and the best project in his eighth grade category, but
he was also awarded the C.J. Croswaite Washington State Science Student of the Year. This
award recognizes an exceptional student of science in Grades 7 – 8 demonstrating ambition and
an ability beyond their peers in their grade levels. In addition, Weber was selected to compete
in the National Broadcom MASTERS competition for middle school students, and awarded $150
from the International Society for Optics and Photonics.
Seventh grade middle school student, Isabelle (Iz)
MacMurchie shown in the photograph at the right,
submitted a project that modeled a spider web, then
calculated the maximum wind speed it could
withstand before breaking. MacMurchie scaled the
intersections of a spider web into x and y coordinates
from a photograph, and modeled it as nodes
(intersections) and elements (spider silk threads) in a
2-dimensional finite element analysis. The model was
subjected to increasing stronger forces while
monitoring the strain in each element until the first
element exceeded its ultimate strain capacity. The
amount the model stretched in the final loading was
used to calculate the speed of the wind that first
broke an element. This project was inspired by an
article in Nature magazine that indicated a similar but
idealized spider webs could withstand hurricane force
winds. MacMurchie’s model indicated that breakage
of the first element of an actual spider web occurred
at less than one quarter the wind speed indicated in
Iz MacMurchie in front of her project titled: Breaking a
Nature. MacMurchie was awarded first place and the Spider Web by Subjecting it to Wind Using a Mathematical
Model
best project in her seventh grade category. She was
also selected to compete in the National Broadcom MASTERS competition for middle school
students.
The table on the following pages lists each student that attended, their school, grade, project
title and awards at the 58th Annual Washington State Science and Engineering Fair from
Sequim.
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Sequim Science Fair Club
News for Immediate Release
School Student Name
Grade Project Title
Hellen Haller Elementary School
Reagan Howe
2
Does the Different
Temperature of
Water Effect How
Much the Crystals?
Julia Jack
4
Does Temperature
Affect the Rate of
Butterfly
Development?
Alliyah Weber
4
Variables Which
Affect Tooth Enamel
Erosion
Sequim Middle School
Nicholas Charters
7
Connor Gosset
7
Brianna Jack
7
Isabelle MacMurchie
7
Vita Olson
7
Bailey Cauffman
8
School Student Name
Breaking a Spider
Web by Subjecting it
to Wind Using a
Mathematical Model
The Effect of Water
Velocity on the Bank
Erosion of McDonald
Creek
The Math Behind
Making A Basket
Grade Project Title
Sequim Middle School continued
Brenden Jack
8
Aaron Jackson
Testing Different
Materials for Impact
Variations
RF Radiation In
Microwaves
Utilization of Euglena
as a Bio filter for
Nitrates
8
Designing a Sailplane
with Solar Panels to
Fly Continuously
During Daylight
Hours
It's Not Rocket
Science...Wait, It Is
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April 5, 2015
Awards
Third Place
First Place and Special Awards from; the
Pacific Science Center
First Place and Special Awards from; the
Pacific Science Center and the
Washington Oral Health Foundation
First Place
Third Place
First Place and Special Awards from; the
Broadcom MASTERS, Graphic Design and
the USDA Forest Service Pacific
Northwest Research Stations
Outstanding Natural Resource Science
Project
First Place, Best of 7 th Grade Category,
and Special Awards from; the Broadcom
MASTERS and the Pacific Science Center
Pacific Outstanding Grade 7 Project
First Place and Special Awards from; the
Pacific Science Center – Project of Merit
and the Association for Women
Geoscientists – PNW Chapter – Award of
Excellence
First Place
Awards
First Place and Special Awards from; the
Bonneville Power Administration (BPA)
and the Museum of Flight ‘Sight of
Flight’
First Place
Sequim Science Fair Club
Sean Weber
Sequim High School
Nicholas Howe
Ashley Baltrusitis
News for Immediate Release
April 5, 2015
8
Designing a
Luminosity Meter to
Detect Toxins Using
Bioluminescence
First Place, Best of 8 th Grade Category,
and Special Awards from; the Broadcom
MASTERS, Pacific Science Center –
Project of Merit, SPIE – The International
Society for Optics and Photonics and the
C. J. Croswaite Washington State Science
Student of the Year (Grade 7-8)
11
Light Bulb Efficiency
12
Removal of Metals
from Aquatic
Ecosystems Using
Zeolites
First Place and Special Awards from; the
International Society for Optics and
Photonics - SPIE, Wolfram Research, Inc.
Mathematica Software and the Ohio
Wesleyan University Outstanding
Achievement in Science Scholarship
First Place and Special Awards from; the
American Chemical Society, Ricoh
Americas Corporation Sustainable
Development, Water Environment
Federation U.S. Regional Stockholm
Junior Water Prize, Marine Sciences for
Outstanding Research, Washington
NASA Space Grant Consortium for a
Project in Engineering Discipline,
Wolfram Research, Inc. Mathematica
Software and the Ohio Wesleyan
University Outstanding Achievement in
Science Scholarship
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